


That's Exactly How It Happened

by LibKat



Series: Season 8 Spitefics and Fixits [2]
Category: Game of Thrones (TV)
Genre: F/M, Fix-It, Spitefic, Spoilers up to 8.5
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-17
Updated: 2019-05-17
Packaged: 2020-03-06 14:15:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,833
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18852733
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LibKat/pseuds/LibKat
Summary: Samwell Tarly tells his inquisitive grandson about the great war and the last war.





	That's Exactly How It Happened

**Author's Note:**

> Another day another spiteful fix it fic. These are the most outlandish, stupid, implausible fixits I could think of until D&D fail to meet even our lowest expectations on Sunday.
> 
> This is entirely unedited. I apologize for any spelling and grammar errors. I'll fix them in a few days.
> 
> Disclaimer: Game of Thrones and these characters belong to a whole bunch of people who are not me and didn’t deserve to be their stewards. I will return them less damaged than the showrunners have left them when I am finished playing with them.

That’s Exactly How It Happened

 

The hot summer wind blew through the open windows of his solar and Samwell Tarly tried to find a position where his sweat-soaked tunic would not chafe against his skin.  Even after all these years, his body had not readjusted to the warmer climes of Horn Hill.  When he was first at the Wall, he’d thought his body would never adjust to the cold.

“Is that truly how it happened, Grandfather?”  Young Dickon was always wanting the stories about those long-ago days when magic and monsters, queens and corpses brought the kingdoms to the brink of destruction until heroes snatched them back again.

And then he always interrupted to ask if what Sam told him was true.

“Of course it is true, dear one,” sweet, lovely Gilly answered for him, “it’s just as your grand da wrote it down for the Citadel.”

Dickon was a practical and curious boy.  His other grandchildren and his children for that matter weren’t much interested in history, but Dickon … Dickon had Sam’s own inquiring mind and his grandmother’s courage to raise questions though they might be unwelcome and inconvenient. 

Samwell was glad that Gilly was there to answer the boy.  He hated telling the accepted lies to his family.  Gilly was much more practical about such things.

Perhaps Sam would write down what really happened and leave it for Dickon when he grew to be a man.

“But I don’t understand how Arya Stark could have made it through all those wights and White Walkers to kill the Night King?”  Dickon’s brow wrinkled adorably in confusion, just like his mother, Eddwyna’s, did.

“She had the training of a faceless man, sweetling.  They can go unnoticed anywhere by anyone.”  Gilly replied with a look at Sam.

***

_Lady Sansa and Arya Stark were in the library at Winterfell arguing quietly.  They had not even noticed that Sam was hidden away back in a corner trying to recover from the horrors of the battle._

_“You must go on letting them think it was you, Arya.  You must!”  Lady Sansa’s voice was urgent with just a hint of command._

_“It’s not fair, Sansa.  Theon gave his life to kill the Night King.  I was never going to able to fight my way through all those dead men to reach him.  Even with Valyrian steel, I’d have been overwhelmed in moments.  Theon did the bravest thing I’ve ever seen a man do.  The hero’s songs should be sung about him.  Not me.”_

_“They should.  And I wish they could be, Arya, I truly do.  But Theon was sworn to Daenerys, even if she wasn’t the reason he came to help us.  If one of Daenerys’s men was the savior of the North, we’re doomed.  The lords will bend the knee to her without thinking about it.  It has to be a Northman who saved us.  It has to be a_ Stark _.”_

_“I hate this, Sansa.  In the end, Theon redeemed himself for all his misdeeds.  People should know that.”_

_“And they will.  He defended Bran bravely and he fell doing that.  Let that be his story.  We will commission songs about the doomed battle of the last Greyjoy prince.  But there are still battles to be fought and the freedom of the North to be won again.  And that won’t happen if Daenerys is seen as more than the undisciplined woman who ruined Jon’s battle plan.”_

_“It wasn’t a very good plan, Sansa,”  Arya whispered._

_“I know.  And that’s why the blame for its failure must fall on Daenerys.”_

_“Very well,” Arya said sadly, then her voice lightened.  “But you’d better not commission any songs about me.  Or any statues.”_

_“Oh, dozens of statues, sister.  And every one of them will be wearing a gown.”_

_Both of Jon’s sister/cousins laughed feebly at their attempt to lighten the mood.  A few moments later, Sam heard the library door close behind them._

***

“If Queen Daenerys was flying on her dragon, how was it that she did not see the Iron Born ships waiting for her?” Dickon raised another uncomfortable question.

“They were hidden behind Dragonstone, which is quite a large island, you see.  Daenerys was coming at them from the wrong angle to see them, and Rhaegal was riderless since he was still injured from the battle with the undead dragon.  If Drogon had only been flying on Rhaegal’s path, Queen Daenerys would have seen the ships and things might have gone very differently,” Sam answered this time.  Gilly had gone to see about dinner.  Sam could only hope that Dickon would attribute the excessive sweating to how bloody hot it was.

***

_The Dornish sailor gulped down the ale that Sam had bought for him and quickly held out the tankard for a refill._

_“And you saw it all?  If you did not, you can say so.  I’ll pay you either way.  How much of the tales being told is true?”_

_“Practically nothin’, maester … my lord.  Them Unsullied boys are lying through their teeth for their Dragon Queen.  Gods alone know why.”_

_Another deep draft emptied the tankard again.  Sam motioned for the serving maid to leave the pitcher.  Getting to the truth of what had happened while he had stayed in the North was proving an expensive proposition.  But Sam had to know.  There was an air of tension and deceit permeating the encampments outside the ruins of Kings Landing._

_And Jon, gods, Jon was grey-faced and old before his time.  When Sam arrived at the encampment with Lady Sansa’s party, he’d almost failed to recognize his dearest friend._

_“You should have seen the foolish bitch, my lord.  Flew right up to the Silence and hovered there, hoping to put the fear of death into mad Euron.   As if he ever had the good sense to feel fear.  Didn’t even notice the ballistas mounted on the prows of the ships.  Wasn’t even looking.  Just hovered there, her on that big black monster and the green one right beside her.  When the spears started to fly, she flew off right quick.  But the other one had rents in its wings, couldn’t maneuver as fast and a lucky shot went right through its eye.  One in a million chance that was.”_

_“People say she did fly back down to destroy the ship but pulled away at the last moment.”_

_“More Essosi lies.  She went high as she could and stayed there while those Iron Born bastards destroyed half her fleet.  Greyjoy left her just enough ships to keep her in the game.  Crazy bastard loved to play with his food.”_

_“Thank you for telling me your story.  It matches with others I have heard.  Please enjoy the hospitality of this tavern for the rest of the evening.”_

***

Dickon was practically vibrating where he sat at Sam’s feet.  “Did that bloody bastard really …”

“Dickon!  A learned man has no call to use such language!”

“Sorry, Grandfather.  But did the Kingslayer really betray the North and return to his wicked sister?”

Sam heaved a heavy sigh.  “I’m sorry to say that he did, Dickon.  Folks hoped that he had mended his ways, seen what he owed to the Starks for his crimes.  But in the end, some men are simply too corrupt to be saved.”

***

_The weeks since the battle for Winterfell had seen an enormous change in Ser Jaime Lannister.  He had commanded on the walls of Winterfell, keeping many men alive while Jon and Daenerys had disappeared from sight in the fog.  That alone had earned respect where only contempt had dwelt before._

_Since the knighting of Ser Brienne and the “triumph” of Arya Stark over the Night King many girls and young women had sought continued instruction in sword, knife, and spear.  So many of their menfolk had died in the wars that they had come to realize they had to rely upon themselves for protection._

_Ser Jaime happily trained any and all.  The smaller courtyard rang from dawn until dusk with the clang of weapons, the cries, and shouts of girls and the calm, authoritative voice of the man who led them through their drills._

_And when the day was done and the weapons cared for and put away, Ser Jaime took his dinner with the common men, far away from the high table.  But his eyes were always drawn there, to the woman who sat beside the Lady of Winterfell in a place of honor._

_The whole castle knew that it was to Ser Brienne’s room that Jaime Lannister retired every night.  No one, not even Lady Sansa remarked upon it in public._

_Near a month after Jon had marched south, Sam heard that a raven had come.  He hurried down to the great hall hoping for news of his friend._

_Sam heard voices in the courtyard and hurried to speak with Sansa, but stopped in the doorway when he heard her vicious tone.  Ser Jaime turned pale as chalk and Ser Brienne swayed in distress.  Lady Sansa showed a small smile of satisfaction when she turned to walk away._

_Not of a forgiving nature was Lady Sansa._

_Brienne did not follow her lady, but stayed with her lover.  Her face showed growing dismay as Ser Jaime scrubbed his hand across his face several times and then cupped her cheek gently with it._

_Brienne’s chin wobbled for a moment, then she breathed, “No.”_

_“I must, Brienne.  You know I must.”_

_“I know no such thing.”_

_“She’s taken the Dragon Queen’s advisor, her friend, captive.  Greyjoy somehow managed to bring down the second dragon.  Cersei will be sure of her power now.  She’ll provoke Daenerys, just because she feels she can.  And hell will rain down on Kings Landing.”_

_“It’s not your responsibility.  Not this time.  There are others to take up the burden, to protect the city.”_

_“Who?  Snow?  The man’s been the luckiest bastard alive, but that kind of luck always runs out.  He still believes in Daenerys, which only shows how thick he is.  Her resentment was practically a physical force before she left Winterfell.  She is teetering on the brink.  It will take only a small push to tip the balance.”_

_Brienne opened her mouth to speak, but Ser Jaime covered her lips with his hand._

_“And if she doesn’t slide all the way to madness, my sister certainly will when her plots and plans come to nothing.  There is still wildfire beneath the city.  I’ve no doubt Qyburn has discovered all of it.  Cersei will burn the city to the ground rather than surrender it.”_

_“But what of the child?”  Brienne closed her eyes as if in pain at saying the words._

_“If there ever was a child, it’s long gone now.  It’s been near ten moons since the last time we … If there was a babe it should have been born by now.  She has nothing and no one to live for but that damned throne.”_

_“All right, then.  We’ll leave tonight.”_

_“No, Brienne, you cannot come with me.  If Cersei got her hands on you … I can’t bear to think of it.”_

_“I won’t let you go alone.  We can argue on the way down about whether I go into the Red Keep with you or stay with the army, but you are not traveling all that way alone.”_

_“Will Lady Sansa allow you to leave with me?”_

_Brienne looked in the direction where Sansa had walked off.  “My obligations to the Stark girls have been met.  I think even Lady Catelyn would agree I’ve fulfilled my oath.  Sansa has hinted that she has not been happy with some of my recent choices.  And I have not been happy with some of hers.”_

_“Blind devotion to family, allowing no one to enter the circle is what led my House to ruin.  I would advise her against it if she would listen to me.  But she would no more heed my words than my father or sister would.”_

_“It saddens me so much that in trying to get away from your sister, Sansa is in danger of becoming her.”_

_“If I leave without you, will she punish you?”_

_“A few weeks ago, I would have been sure of my answer.  But now I cannot say she wouldn’t.”_

_“Then let us leave here together.  As you said we’ll argue on the way.  Why should this journey together be any different?”_

_Ser Brienne’s laugh rang out through the courtyard. It still caught everyone by surprise, so loud, boisterous, infectious it was.  No one in the North remembered hearing it before Ser Jaime came to Winterfell._

_When Ser Brienne and Ser Jaime were found to be gone the next morning, Lady Sansa questioned everyone closely.  Ser Podrick (knighted by his lady/ser after the battle for Winterfell) could offer no explanation, except to say that Ser Brienne and Ser Jaime were loyal, brave and honorable, and being such must have a very good reason for leaving. Didn’t Lady Sansa have any idea of why they might have gone?_

_Sansa brought the young man before the remaining lords of the North and demanded he swear his sword to her.  When Ser Podrick protested Sansa told him to leave Winterfell and not return until he could be loyal to the Starks.  Then declared that Ser Brienne had chosen to leave her service and pursue the traitorous Kingslayer.  If Ser Brienne ever tried to return to Winterfell, she should be detained at the gates until she or Lord Bran had the chance to interrogate her._

***

“The Kingslayer died with his sister, did he not, Grandfather?  Why was he so devoted to her when she was so bad?”  Dickon’s earnest young face looked up at Sam.  There were things in this story that Sam had expurgated for the innocent ears of his grandson and the relationship between the Lannister twins was one of them.

“The Kingslayer died in the rubble of the Red Keep.  His sister was found next to him and they were burnt together and their ashes scattered to the winds.

***

_Sam was anxious to hear the tale that Ser Brienne had to tell.  Ser Jaime had been captured by the Dragon Queen, it was said and then freed by his brother.  But no one made mention of the lady knight in their accounts._

_When Sam finally tracked Brienne down to a small tent on the periphery of the encampment, she did not behave like a woman whose lover had died comforting another woman.  She did not behave like a woman whose lover had died at all._

_“Ser, please accept my and Gilly’s condolences on Ser Jaime’s demise,” Sam said softly._

_“I thank you for your words, Samwell.  How did Gilly weather the journey down from the North?  I was concerned that she was traveling in her condition.”_

_“Gilly is far stronger than I will ever be.  We hope to home at Horn Hill before the little one arrives.  My mother wants to be there to help bring her new grandchild into the world.”_

_“I will pray to the Mother for your lady’s safety.”  Ser Brienne turned away as though she considered the conversation at an end._

_“Forgive me for pressing, Brienne.  If you do not feel prepared to speak about it I will understand.  But all the tales being told are so confused.  Nothing I have heard about Ser Jaime’s conduct matches the man I saw at Winterfell.  Can you bear to tell me what happened?”_

_Ser Brienne sighed deeply.  “The truth of the matter may be dangerous to know, Sam, depending on the decisions made in the coming council meeting.  I would not want to put you in harm’s way.”_

_“I can keep a secret, Brienne.  I’ve kept more than you would guess.”_

_“Very well, tell me what you have heard and I will let you know what is false and what is true.”_

_“I heard that Daenerys’s troops captured Ser Jaime trying to sneak through their lines.”_

_“That is false,” Ser Brienne declared decisively.  “As though a man who had spent more than 20 years living in the Red Keep wouldn’t be able to avoid a poorly deployed encampment on a night with no moon.  It was a Lannister cousin they captured trying to flee the city before the coming battle.  I suppose Daenerys put it about that it was Jaime to increase her appearance of strength.  Tyrion released the man rather than see him executed under false charges.  The bitch was going to have his hand cut off  before she paraded him in front of her troops to make it more convincing.  She was already mad before she got on the back of that black demon and destroyed everything Jaime had once preserved.”_

_“Ser Jaime reached the caverns below the Red Keep and made his way to his sister somehow, did hernot?  There is a story going around that something happened between him and Euron Greyjoy.  No one has mentioned where you were.”_

_“Some of that is true, Sam.  Jaime and I, with Podrick, who had caught up with us on the road, borrowed a boat and managed to reach the coves below the Red Keep before the attack began.  The Iron Born were so focused on the sky they didn’t notice a little skiff making its way past them.  We left Podrick on guard and made our way into the caverns, hoping to reach Cersei and force her to surrender before she or Daenerys could turn the city to ash.  Even that deep underground we heard the bells ring out from all over the city and we thought that it was done.  But then the rumbling started, so loud we knew whole buildings were falling to the ground.  It could only be one or the other of them destroying Kings Landing out of rage and madness.”_

_“It must have been terrifying.”  Sam dared to pat Ser Brienne’s hand._

_“It was, Sam.  Jaime and I knew that whatever had happened, we had failed to capture Cersei and ward off destruction.  We began to retrace our path, to take the boat and Podrick and get as far away from here as possible.  In the cavern where King Robert had placed the dragon skulls, we found Cersei, fleeing the wreckage of all she had wrought.  Euron Greyjoy was with her.  He was beyond control, beating her, screaming at her that she had ruined everything, all his plans.  He would kill her as he’d always planned to do.”_

_“Good gods!” Sam interjected._

_“There were no gods in Kings Landing that day, Sam.  Except for the Stranger.  He must have been glorying in the massacre.”_

_“Cersei saw Jaime and called out to him to save her.  Of course, he responded.  She was his sister, the mother of his children.  He had loved her for most of his life.  And she was a woman being beaten by a man.  How could we not try to help her?  Between us, we pulled Euron off of her.  That bastard was as mad as the two queens.  Somehow he had heard that I had been knighted.  He wanted to be the man who killed the first woman knight.  He wanted to be the man who killed the Kingslayer.  He was not up to the job.  He was a cutthroat, not a swordsman.”_

_“While I fought Greyjoy, Jaime tried to help Cersei.  She was badly injured, not able to rise from the ground or even be lifted without screaming.  She kept grasping onto Jaime, praising him for returning to her, telling him they would die together as they always said.  Jaime did not notice that she had pulled the knife from his belt.  I was an instant too late to stop her from striking.”_

_“I pulled Jaime away from her grasp.  She looked directly at me.  ‘You’ll never have him, you cow,’ she said. ‘He’s mine.  He always will be.”_

_“I had a choice of saving Jaime or Cersei.  That was no choice at all.”  Brienne’s eyes were far away._

_“But they thought they found Ser Jaime with her when the dug her body out.”_

_“A misapprehension both Tyrion and I encouraged.  It was Euron.  No one was going to mourn over him.  Let everyone think he died when his ship was destroyed.  The roof of the cavern caved in soon after I got Jaime out of there.  When what was left of them was found, Euron was beyond recognition.  Cersei’s body had been somewhat protected by a fallen statue of that fiend, Joffrey.  But the statue’s hands landed on her neck and must have crushed her throat.”_

_“Did Ser Jaime survive his wound?” Sam asked his voice hoarse.  He had not had much to do with Jaime, but what he had seen impressed him that the man seemed undeserving of his foul reputation._

_“He did not.” There was no sorrow in her voice.  “Jaime Lannister, the Kingslayer died in that cavern.  He decided that himself.  Ser Arthur Hill, however, was only slightly injured by a weak and glancing knife strike to the ribs.  He and Podrick took that skiff and sailed away to the Tarth.  In all the confusion after the battle, I was able to send a raven to my father, telling him to expect them.”_

_“Ser Arthur Hill?  It’s a strong name.”  Sam smiled in knowing the man who’d worked so hard to erase his sins had been reborn to start anew._

_“It will be Ser Arthur of Tarth as soon as I can leave this terrible place and join him.  We do not want any more bastards born of his seed.”  Ser Brienne rested her hand gently on her middle, which was slightly less flat than the last time Sam had seen her._

_“Congratulations on your coming marriage, Ser Brienne.  I’m sure you will have many years of happiness.”_

_***_

“Why did the Dragon Queen go mad, Grandfather, if the city had already surrendered?  She only ever wanted the Iron Throne, to rule the people of Westeros.  Why would she destroy the thing she wanted?”

“You’ll learn as you grow up, Dickon, sometimes the things we think we want the most are actually the thing we need the least.  So it was with Queen Daenerys.  She lost everyone she loved in pursuit of the throne, and when she finally could see it in her grasp, she was alone.”

“That’s sad, Grandfather.  She was the last Targaryen.  She had the last dragon.”

“Fear and loneliness can make people do terrible things.”

***

_Jon had pulled Sam aside as soon as he had arrived with Sansa’s group from Winterfell.  He and Gilly had decided that the castle was no longer a home they wanted to raise their children in.  They thought briefly about going farther north now that it was safe and Sam had been freed from his Night’s Watch oath, but that didn’t feel right either.  A raven from his mother begging him to come and take Horn Hill in hand decided them._

_Jon looked so broken and defeated, even though he was being lauded by the survivors of Kings Landing for ending the life of Daenerys Targaryen.  Everyone cheered for the Queenslayer whenever he appeared.  Jon remained hidden away in his tent most of the time._

_The battle had been a disaster, Jon told him in a choked whisper.  He was used to leading men who respected him, would follow him no matter what.  But the Unsullied and the Dothraki owed him no allegiance.  They barely even recognized him.  And he had lost the loyalty of the Northmen when he had bent the knee, when he had chosen to protect Bran at all costs rather than using one of the dragons to protect the troops on the ground fighting the army of the dead._

_The battle had spiraled beyond his control so quickly._

_“I never saw that happening, Sam.  It was inconceivable to me that Northmen,_ my _men would act like animals, butchering men who had surrendered and civilians.  I had to fight my soldiers to stop them from raping women.  I saw my soldiers killing little children without a thought.  And my queen, my aunt, my lover was the worst of them all.”_

_“What happened to Daenerys, Jon?  I knew from what she did to my brother that she could be brutal, but to go so mad… How was that possible?”_

_“That’s the horror of it, Sam.  She didn’t go mad.  Not really.  She made a cold and calculated decision.  If Westeros would not love her, then it would fear her.  But either way, it would be hers.  She sat on Drogon for long moments and seemed to look at the Red Keep.  I thought she would go there for Cersei.  But then, she attacked the city, the streets, the markets, the houses where the small folk lived.”_

_Sam reached out to put his hand on Jon’s shaking shoulder.  He had not been this emotional even when Ygritte died._

_“I can’t describe it, Sam.  It was like that was a signal for all her men to go lose their souls, too.  They slaughtered everyone in their path.  I called the retreat when the fire came to close but they kept on fighting, even as the fire consumed them.”_

_“Daenerys claimed the city, didn’t she?”_

_“She did.  She had her men drive the people out of hiding and into the streets.  She flew Drogon over them and watched them cower in fear.  The Unsullied formed in the great square on Aegon’s High Hill and she made a speech about how she freed them from Lannister tyranny, that she would bring order back to Westeros with fire and blood.  Westeros and then the rest of the world.”_

_Jon cocked his head to one side, his eyes far away, as though contemplating some distant horizon._

_“I think she expected cheering.  She waited for it.  She looked so lost when the crowd remained silent.  Then she turned and went back to the Red Keep.  She walked there, through the ruins, the ash.  She saw the piles of bones that had not yet been cleared.  Large skulls that belonged to full grown men.  Women’s skulls that somehow had patches of long hair that had survived the flames.  And the small skulls of children and babies who ought to have been at their mother’s breasts.  Those were the ones, I think, that moved her, brought some part of her back to herself.”_

_“They say that Aerys did not go mad all at once.  It was a gradual decline, but when the spells came on him they were terrifying.  And they became more frequent with every passing year.  I don’t think she could have been saved, Jon.”  Sam patted his friend on the shoulder, trying to offer the only comfort Jon would allow._

_Jon sighed deeply.  “No, I know there was no saving her.  The next time someone did not fall in line.  The next time a situation frustrated her beyond bearing, it would have been fire and blood.”_

_“How did she die, Jon?”  His friend needed to get all the poison out so Jon’s wound could begin to heal._

_“She got to the throne room.  She left everyone behind and walked in with only me to follow.  She looked at the throne and said ‘Is that all?  All the horror, all the death, all for that ugly piece of iron.’”_

_“She fell to the floor and keened.  I’ve never heard so desolate a sound.  I went to her, tried to hold her.  She would not have it.  She kept repeating ‘What have I done?  What have I become?’”_

_“She got to her feet and she looked at me.  They were Dany’s eyes, her beautiful, soft eyes that could hold so much love, so much despair.  “I cannot live like this, Jon.  I cannot live with what I have done.  What I_ will _do again.  I know I will.  End it, Jon.’”_

_“She knelt on the floor before me, her arms spread to the sides.  I drew Longclaw and raised it, brought it to her chest. ‘I beg you, Jon.’ she whispered.  But I could not do it.  I could not strike down the woman I loved.  She put her hands on Longclaw’s blade and pulled in into her.  There was nothing I could do.”_

_“What happened to the dragon, Jon?  He must have gone mad when his mother died,” Sam asked._

_“There was already a plot afoot to destroy Drogon and cut the heart from Dany’s power.  A group of Northman, led by Ser Brienne had come to face him in the Dragon Pit.  They knew no one would be safe as long as the dragon lived.  There were still a few scorpions that had survived that battle.  In the confined space of the Dragon Pit, Drogon was vulnerable.  He was wounded several times until Ser Brienne leaped down upon him with her Valyrian steel sword and took off his head.”_

_“Brienne the Dragonslayer,” Sam breathed._

_“She’s forbidden anyone to call her that.  To even speak of how Drogon was killed.  Anyone who does will meet the pointy end of her sword.”_

_Jon's eyes focused on Sam again.  "After Daenerys died, the Dothraki decided that there were no further restraints on their behavior.  And they learned what a cavalry of mounted knights can do when they’ve had time to prepare for battle.  The Unsullied, who never really wanted to desert the freed people of Essos agreed to depart peacefully, never to return.”_

_Sam considered his next words carefully.  He did not wish to make his friend even sadder over his poor judgment._

_“We all should have been more careful around Daenerys.  The signs were there if we’d only known where to look for them.”_

_“Sansa was careful and it only drove Dany closer to the edge.”_

_“Lady Sansa was resentful and suspicious, not careful.  Sansa knew that she was prodding the dragon but she did it anyway in her desire to serve her own purposes.”_

_“That bastard Littlefinger taught her that.  Poke and prod and push and see where the reactions lead you.”_

_“Littlefinger’s end should have shown your sister that such a tactic is not always successful.”  Sam’s voice was dry as the Red Waste._

_“Sansa is smart but not as smart as she thinks she is.  I hope when she sees the wreckage of this city, she’ll consider what part she played in this.  But I doubt it.  She hated this city as much as she hated Cersei and Joffrey.”_

_“What are you going to do, Jon, about the North?”_

_“Winterfell belongs to Sansa.  I gave the North away and I gave it the wrong person.  Let the right one have it now.  Whatever the council decides, Sansa should lead the North.  At heart, her schemes have always had the best interests of the North.”_

_***_

“Why did the council not choose a new king or queen, Grandfather?”

“With the kingdoms so broken, no one man or woman could lead us out of that.  With so many noble families destroyed, it was feared another tyrant could rise.  Before the Targaryens, we were separate kingdoms.  With the Targaryens gone forever, the council decided that we should be separate lands again.  But without kings or queens and with a central council to work together for the common good.”

“The Council of the Guardians.”  Dickon’s eyes got big as he breathed the name.

“Yes, we created the Guardians of the old kingdoms.  And they led their lands with their own councils of advisors,”

Sam remembered the struggle to salvage the wreckage of Westeros.  It had been so hard to not reveal Jon’s birthright to the realm, but he had forbidden Sam, Sansa, and Bran to speak of it.  Jon declined any part in further ruling, saying his days of that were done.  He would go beyond the Wall and rejoin the Wildings.  Relive the only days of true freedom he had ever known.

Once they came to an agreement on the Council, choosing the Guardians became less fraught.  Lord Royce would lead the Vale, as Robin Arryn was unacceptable to all.  Edmure Tully would take the Riverlands, Lord Tyrion, the West and the newly named Prince of Dorne would continue to try to salvage something out of that divided land.

The first controversy came to who would lead the Stormlands.  Daenerys had given Storms End to Gendry Baratheon is an obvious bid to curry favor and create allies.  Whether the illiterate blacksmith should continue in the role, was hotly debated, until the man himself declined consideration.  He was going to go adventuring, see what was west of Westeros.

Then the choice became clear, Ser Brienne of Tarth.  She attempted to decline it.  Sansa Stark raised mild objections based on her connection to the traitorous Kingslayer.  But those objections were ignored.

The lands had gone along peacefully for several years, the Council meeting and communicating regularly.  Nothing more notable happened than a bit of gossip about the Lady of the Stormlands' reclusive husband, who seemed content to stay on Tarth, tending their growing brood of children and training young men and women who came to the island for instruction in swordsmanship.  Everyone agreed, with varying degrees of pleasure, that he could not possibly be Jaime Lannister, who perished in the last war.

The first crisis came when the reunited Dornish thought to move against their neighbors in the Reach.  The Guardian of the Reach called his banners and asked the other lands for assistance. 

From the Stormlands came a troop of mounted knights as no one had ever seen.  They called themselves the Storm Riders and they were led by Lady Ser Brienne of Tarth herself and her husband, who kept his helmet visor down at all times.

Though Lord Arthur had lost a hand in some long-forgotten battle, he was a formidable fighter, near the equal of his wife and a brilliant commander.  Chastened the Dornish pulled back behind their own borders after a single battle.

Lady Ser Brienne announced to the Council that the Storm Riders were created to act as the knights-errant of the land.  Where help was needed they would offer aid.  Where people were oppressed they would bring relief.

When Brienne was asked how they could be sure that these knights would not become oppressors themselves, she told them that the Storm Riders were observed by Brandon Stark, the Three-Eyed Raven.  Any transgression of their knight's oaths would be reported and dealt with harshly.

Ser Arthur led the Storm Riders until his second child, Duncan, a knight said to rival even his namesake, was old enough to claim the role.  And the lands grew safe and prospered together and separately.

“And that is how it happened, Grandfather?”

“Yes, Dickon, that’s exactly how it happened.”

The door opened and Gilly stuck her head in.  “Come to dinner, you two.  Our bannermen and women want to see the Guardian of the Reach sometime today.”


End file.
